Notes from the director...

"Berlin was in a state of civil war. Hate exploded suddenly, without warning, out of nowhere; at street corners, in restaurants, cinemas, dance halls, swimming baths; at midnight, after breakfast, in the middle of the afternoon."

-Christopher Isherwood,

The Last of Mr. Norris

The party known as The Roaring 20s was over, at least in America. And yet despite the storm clouds of World War II gathering on the horizon, the party continued in Europe, especially in Berlin. The over-the-top, decadent lifestyle of Weimar Berlin called out to expatriate Americans who either could not or chose not to see the social and political changes taking place there. It is against this backdrop, in the twilight of the Weimar Republic, that Cabaret is set. When first produced in 1966, the show broke into a new genre of socially responsible musical theatre, a genre which continues to this day as political activism of all kinds has experienced a renaissance. Theater should not only entertain us, but also make us think. In the eighty years since the time of Cliff and Sally, have things changed?

In his introduction to The Berlin Stories, Isherwood describes his return to Germany in the early-1950s: "...I marveled, as one always does, at the individual's ability to be himself and survive, amidst a huge undifferentiated military mess." He arrives at relative peace with the help of his former landlady, Frl. Schroeder who explains the secret of her survival and the war's only moral: "Somehow or other, life goes on in spite of everything."

There is not much to prepare the audience for the scene that awaits them at the end of our production, a reminder about one of history's darkest hours.  Are any of us exempt from this experience?

Leave all your troubles outside!

So-Life is disappointing? Forget it!

We have no troubles here! Here life is beautiful...